Celebrate MTV’s 40th Anniversary With ‘Biography: I Want My MTV’

40 years ago today an upstart cable television channel was launched that would have a seismic impact on music, entertainment and pop culture. On August 1, 1981, at 12:01 a.m. ET, MTV aired its very first music video, the symbolically appropriate “Video Killed The Radio Star” by one-hit wonders The Buggles. At that moment, the staff of the fledgling network were watching the premiere in a dive bar in Fort Lee, New Jersey, the channel only being available in the Garden State at the time. This is but one of myriad interesting and funny anecdotes shared in Biography: I Want My MTV, A&E’s 2020 documentary about the network’s early days. 

“I don’t believe anyone started MTV to make money,” pop hit maker Jack Antonoff says at the start of the episode. I can tell you for certain, that’s utter bullshit. It would have never gotten off the ground if someone didn’t think it would make money. However, there’s no doubt the network’s formative years were inspired by a love of music equal to its thirst for revenue. The team that launched the channel were a mix of entertainment industry veterans looking for a new kind of kick and young recruits whose sense of adventure matched their career ambitions.

It’s incredible watching the documentary to consider how different the media landscape was at the time of MTV’s inception. The major networks reigned supreme, cable television was unavailable in wide swaths of the country and the Internet as we know it didn’t exist. A TV channel solely dedicated to news, music or the weather was genius or foolhardy, depending on your perspective. The entertainment industry was lorded over by men who had little affection for youth culture and the music business was rigidly segregated, from radio stations to sales charts. 

MTV was initially approved with a budget of $25 million. It didn’t go far. Some of the company’s new hires had no experience in television, others none in music. The early years were low rent, relying on found footage and borrowed graphics. The major markets didn’t carry MTV and cable execs were no fans of pop, rock or R&B. The “I want my MTV!” promo campaign helped drum up requests for the channel to be added in cable markets around the country and it worked thanks to its musical star power.

According to the documentary, MTV only had 250 videos to work with during its first year on the air. “It had to be pretty bad for us not to play it,“ says former talent coordinator Gale Sparrow. While American record companies scoffed at music videos, there was a rich tradition in the UK of artists creating promo clips to accompany their latest single. These ranged from lip synched live performances to short films which matched the music to engaging visuals or storylines. MTV came to rely on them and soon cutting edge British artists were being telecast into Middle America. Their popularity on MTV opened doors that had once been shut and translated into album sales, at which point the music industry took notice. 

During its first two years on the air MTV gave ample exposure to young rock bands and older artists who adapted to the new music video mindset. Black artists, however, were seldom seen. Those who were there then have lots of excuses as to why this is but few of them hold any water. It took the outsize popularity of Michael Jackson to break down MTV’s color barrier and that only came after significant pressure from CBS Records. The channel was also slow to embrace hip hop. YO! MTV Raps was given short shrift when it premiered but became the channel’s most popular show, introducing suburbia to the sounds of the inner city.  

MTV was sold to Viacom in 1985 and things started to change. By 1987, many of the old guard had moved on. New programming blocks featured heavy metal, alternative rock and dance music but ratings were down across the board. Looking for something new, the channel turned the cameras on the crowd, on shows like Top 20 Countdown and the pioneering reality television show, The Real World. Former MTV President and CEO Tom Freston calls the show and the genre it spawned, “a blessing and a curse.” While MTV no longer features music as much as reality programming, its founders take credit for YouTube where viewers can watch all the music they want, as astounding display of hubris yet entirely in keeping with the network. 

Biography: I Want My MTV gives a good overview of the network’s first decade but still only scratches the surface, such was the influence of the channel on culture and music at its peak. At 40 years old, MTV today is as far from its origins as the Internet is from the early years of GeoCities websites and AOL Instant Messenger. While I aged out of their target demographic decades ago, I was surprised to see the programming hasn’t changed much since then, featuring new seasons or reboots of the same shows that were on when I stopped watching.  MTV was once the premiere entertainment destination for teenagers and young adults but kids these days are smarter, hipper and more tech savvy than any corporate television network could ever hope to be. It makes me wonder, does anyone still want their MTV?

Benjamin H. Smith is a New York based writer, producer and musician. Follow him on Twitter:@BHSmithNYC.

Watch I Want My MTV on Biography